Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2010 - 74

book

reviews
Clarifying images
Although many of the illustrations are available
in other books, Making the Scene has brought
together images from a variety of sources to help
clarify some topics. For example, both Bulle and
Ashby's different reconstructions of the mechane
are included, making it clearer that much of our
knowledge of ancient Greek production is conjectural. Less laudatory is the inclusion of the plan of
a five periaktoi setting from Ignatio Danti's 1583
edition of Vignola's Le due regole della prospettiva pratica. It could give a very misleading idea
of how periaktoi were used in the ancient Greek
theatre. The same is true when the authors include an illustration of a seventeenth-century Hell
Mouth in the Medieval chapter. The use of these
illustrations was probably due to the lack of visual material concerning theatrical machinery in
the Classical and Medieval theatre. The only Medieval machinery drawings included in the book
are related to general construction techniques.
The Medieval chapter rightly includes theatres
from later periods that shared some common
features, such as the French Hôtel de Bourgogne,
Rhetoric stages of Holland, Spanish coralles, and
English "Shakespearean stages."
The Italian Renaissance chapter has many of
the beautiful drawings from the Tobin collection,
but it too has problems of interpretation. The text
and the illustrations cover scenes and machines
from the early sixteenth century through the 1770
Palais-Royal. Although the later machinery was sophisticated and very effective, the early machinery
was so crude that Sabbattini suggested ways of distracting the audience when a shift was to occur.
The discussion of the mechanized scene
change, which credits Giacomo Torelli almost entirely with its invention, is referred to as the "pole
and chariot" system, although all of the illustrations show the use of wing frames, not poles. They
cite Motta's treatise on stage machinery, but fail to
mention the eyewitnesses, Skippon and Tessin,
who sketched the techniques in their travel diaries. They also claim that by using Torelli's innovation, the wings, borders, and backdrops "could be
moved by a single winch by a one person." None
of the machinery drawings show how this could
be done, and only one surviving eighteenth-century theatre is capable of this kind of scene shift.

theatre

design

technology

In the generally excellent chapter on scena per
angolo, the authors mention and include illustrations of several surviving court theatres. But
they fail to mention how some of these theatres
combined side wings using single vanishing point
perspective with some backdrops using scena
per angolo techniques. The original scenery and
machinery from these theatres are the earliest to
survive and as such are immensely important to
the history of stage design and technology.
The nineteenth-century Ghost Glide or Corsican Trap is well described, but the illustration
associated with the description shows stagehands
opening a standard trap, not a Corsican Trap. In
other places the authors discuss the evolution of
drama, but miss the opportunity to explain how
the scenery was mounted. For example, Ibsen's
Ghosts is discussed as a modern play and a picture of the set is included, but there is no discussion of the box set or whether borders or a flat
ceiling was used in the realistic production.

Designers' ideas
Although the scattered evidence requires conjecture in the earlier periods, in the later chapters
the authors are able to quote some of the designers' ideas about their designs. At times the book
leaves the reader wanting more. Ming Cho Lee's
designs are covered in one paragraph; more detail about the nature of this important designer's
scenic designs would have been helpful.
Because a number of drawings are available in more recent periods, the authors are
able to compare renderings or photos of the
same production by different designers. Particularly useful are those instances where a rendering or photograph can be compared with a
plan of the production, since it is often difficult
to determine how some modern designs were
actually realized on stage from the rendering
alone. As the authors state in the preface, they
can't cover all the designers, but they make a
good selection to discuss the scenic design
trends in the modern theatre.
The final chapter considers the role of the
Prague Quadrennial and the Organisation Internationale des Scénographes, Techniciens, et Architectes de Théâtre (OISTAT) in the sharing of
scenic design within the global community.

S U M M E R

2010

There was definitely a need for a comprehensive history of scenic design and stage
technology. Most of the existing books deal
with specific designers, such as Henderson's
Mielziner: Master of Modern Stage Design and
Burian's The Scenography of Josef Svoboda, or
cover a limited period, like Aronson's American
Set Design, Hainaux's Stage Design Throughout
the World series, and Larson's Scene Design in
the American Theatre From 1915-1960. More
comprehensive books, like Lee Simonson's The
Art of Scenic Design and Molinari's Theatre
Through the Ages, although still valuable, are
out-of-date. Making the Scene fills the need and
fills it admirably with 300 color illustrations of
scenic design and technology from the ancient
Greek theatre to the twenty-first century.
It is difficult to determine where the book
belongs, as a textbook in a history or design class,
in a designer's library, or on the shelves of a college library. Its expensive price may limit its use
as a textbook, but it should definitely be on the
reference shelf (or coffee table) of theatre historians and designers. The splendid illustrations
alone set it apart and make it worth the price. It
will probably become the standard book on the
history of design and technology, in spite of any
problems, for many years to come.
The authors noted in the preface that "Robert
Tobin truly believed that costume and scene design
were the most worthy of art forms." Making the
Scene demonstrates that he was right.
Frank Mohler, professor emeritus of
theatre at Appalachian State University,
won USITT's Herbert D. Greggs Award in
2004 for "Mnichovo Hradiste: The Survival
of the 'English System' in the Czech
Republic" in TD&T, Winter 2003. His Web
site, The Development of Scenic Spectacle,
www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle, has a
wealth of information about Renaissance
and Baroque theatrical spectacle.
Note: Making the Scene, which received the
2010 USITT Golden Pen Award, is available to
USITT members at a substantial discount through
the USITT online bookstore: ww4.usitt.org/
bookstore/go.php?to=ItemDetail&sku=M07.

http://www1.appstate.edu/orgs/spectacle http://ww4.usitt.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 2010